News + Events

Portland Maine Film Festival Hosted at MECA

Posted: 2012-09-04

MECA is a proud sponsor of The Portland Maine Film Festival. MECA's Osher Hall will be transformed into a host venue for the film festival from October 4 - 7, 2012.

The Portland Maine Film Festival is dedicated to presenting the work of talented, emerging artists who engage critical, contemporary dialogues through the medium of film. In doing so, we hope to foster the cultural and creative growth of Portland as a developing hub for independent film and innovation within the motion picture arts.

The Festival also provides a forum for local artists to present their work alongside industry leaders, innovators, and established filmmakers, providing them with unique networking, educational, and creative opportunities to increase the visibility of their films and strengthen their relationships within the Maine filmmaking community and beyond.

Coming this Fall! SNAAP Survey

Posted: 2012-08-26

MECA is participating in the 2012 Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP)--a one-of-a-kind survey that explores the lives of arts alumni nationwide. Alumni completing the survey this fall will have access to a site to see how their educational and career experiences compare with alumni from across the country. See where other arts graduates live, where they work, what they earn, and how their arts educations have influenced their lives.

The time spent sharing those experiences will help participating arts institutions across the country better prepare students for success, whether they stay in the arts or use what they’ve learned in other professional fields.

By verifying our alumni office has a current email address, our alumni can be sure not to miss the chance to share school and life experiences and helping to shape the future of arts education across the country and at MECA. Update your email information by contacting alums@meca.edu.

Creative Capital Professional Development Retreat

Posted: 2012-07-27

The Maine Arts Commission recently presented a transformative two-day Creative Capital Professional Development Retreat in partnership with Maine College of Art. Creative Capital is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to providing integrated financial and advisory support to artists pursuing adventurous projects in five disciplines: Emerging Fields, Film/Video, Literature, Performing Arts and Visual Arts. Working in long-term partnership with artists, Creative Capital’s pioneering approach to support combines funding, counsel and career development services to enable a project’s success and foster sustainable practices for its grantees. The Professional Development Program has reached more than 4,200 artists in 70 communities across the country. The retreat was held at MECA on September 15 and 16.

The Professional Development Retreat delivered dynamic skill-building opportunities to artists for long-term change. Using strategic planning as the central tool, the retreat provided a comprehensive learning structure that helps artists identify short-term project goals and longer-term career goals. The aim of the retreat was to help artists build the skills and identify the resources needed to accomplish their goals. Creative Capital uses an integrated methodology to build skills in the core areas of marketing/public relations, financial planning and fundraising. Overall, the retreat helps artists break ineffective patterns of time and work management, and increase satisfaction in the business of their art.

If you are interested in learning more about this professional development program and other similar upcoming opportunities, please contact Jessica Tomlinson at jtomlinson@meca.edu.

Alum Publishes Book on Rescued Animals

Posted: 2012-07-02

Alum Sharon Lee Hart '04, a lecturer in the University of Kentucky School of Art and Visual Studies, recently published her first book titled "Sanctuary: Portraits of Rescued Farm Animals" which will be released this fall.

The book is comprised of photographs, taken by Hart, of rescued farm animals in various animal sanctuaries, accompanied by handwritten stories by sanctuary workers and leaders in the animal rescue industry. Spliced amongst the photos and stories are essays written by Karen Davis, president of United Poultry Concerns; Kathy Stevens, founder of the Catskill Animal Sanctuary; andGene Baur, founder of Farm Sanctuary.

A long-time vegetarian turned vegan, Hart refers to farm animals as "some of the most abused, overlooked animals on the planet." Upon visiting her first animal sanctuary, Hart was inspired to meet more rescued farm animals and pursue this project. The message of the book is to show the innocence and intelligence of farm animals across the country, and Hart hopes "Sanctuary" will promote advocacy for better treatment for farm animals.

"I hope that folks view the photographs with compassionate eyes, read the stories with an open heart, and begin to see farm animals in a new light," Hart said.

A native of Washington, D.C., Hart received her bachelor's degree with honors from Maine College of Art and her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alum and Faculty member included in Smithsonian Exhibition

Posted: 2012-06-26

Alum Vivian Beer '00 and Associate Professor of Metalsmithing & Jewelry Jeff Clancy were selected to participate in "40 under 40: Craft Futures" at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The show features forty artists born since 1972, the year the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s contemporary craft and decorative arts program was established at its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery. The exhibition investigates evolving notions of craft within traditional media such as ceramics and metalwork, as well as in fields as varied as sculpture, industrial design, installation art, fashion design, sustainable manufacturing, and mathematics. The range of disciplines represented illustrates new avenues for the handmade in contemporary culture.

This new work reflects the changed world that exists today, which poses new challenges and considerations for artists. These 40 artists are united by philosophies for living differently in modern society with an emphasis on sustainability, a return to valuing the hand-made and what it means to live in a state of persistent conflict and unease.

Nicholas R. Bell, The Fleur and Charles Bresler Curator of American Craft and Decorative Art at the Renwick Gallery, organized the exhibition which runs from July 20, 2012 to February 3, 2013. The museum hopes to acquire works by every artist featured in the exhibition to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the Renwick Gallery.

Image: Tea for One by Jeff Clancy

MFA Summer Visiting Artist Lecture Series

Posted: 2012-05-25

Each summer, MECA invites visiting artists, curators, and scholars to participate in MFA curriculum. In addition to critiques and studio visits with students, Visiting Artists deliver a lecture that is free and open to the public. Lectures are held in Osher Hall and begin at 6:30pm.

Michael KimmelmanThursday, June 21“From New York to Europe and Back Again”

Michael Kimmelman’s talk is an intimate and story-filled reflection on his path from The New York Times’s Chief Art Critic, trawling the world’s museums and galleries to Foreign Correspondent (based in Berlin), reinventing cultural reporting from Marseille to Gaza to Berlin and Istanbul, all of which prepared the way for his current post as Architecture Critic, writing about issues facing us at a time when society and cities are rapidly changing.

Beth LipmanMonday, June 25

Beth Lipman lives and works in Sheboygan Falls, WI. She has exhibited her work widely and received numerous awards including a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant, Wisconsin Arts Board Fellowship, and a Ruth Chenven Foundation Grant. Lipman has exhibited her work internationally at such institutions as the ICA at MECA, the RISD Museum, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Radcliffe BaileyMonday, July 2

Radcliffe Bailey creates his mixed media paintings by piecing together ancestral photographs, collected objects, and painted words and maps. Born in 1968 in New Jersey, Bailey now lives and works in Atlanta. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Atlanta College of Art in 1991. His work is permanently installed in the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and in numerous permanent collections including The Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The High Museum of Art, and The Art Institute of Chicago.

Amze EmmonsMonday, July 9

Amze Emmons is one of the co-founders of Printersting.org. He is an artist, illustrator, curator, living and working in Philadelphia, PA. Currently, he teaches art at Muhlenberg College in Allentown. Emmons and his partners at Printeresting are organizing a zine and small press exposition at Space Gallery from July 20 - August 23 featuring work from 60 talented artists, designers, and publishers from around the world.

Stanya KahnMonday, July 16

California-based Stanya Kahn is an interdisciplinary media artist. Working primarily in video, with a practice that includes performance, writing, and photography, Kahn's work inhabits a space between fiction and document, and stems from an extensive background in live performance. Kahn has worked in a collaborative team with artist Harry Dodge, and her work has shown in numerous venues nationally and internationally, including the Whitney Biennial, the California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art, and The Museum of Modern Art.

Francis CapeMonday July 23

Francis Cape was trained as a woodcarver before receiving his MFA from Goldsmiths College, University of London. He has exhibited his work extensively in the US, including shows at the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center and the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art. Cape is represented by Murray Guyin New York City. He lives and works in Narrowsburg, NY.

Denise MarkonishMonday July 30

Denise Markonish is the curator at MASS MoCA where she has curated the exhibitions of Nari Ward, Petah Coyne and Inigo Manglano-Ovalle. Markonish also co-edited with Susan Cross the book Sol LeWitt: 100 Views. Previous to her work at MASS MoCA, Markonish was the curator at Artspace in New Haven, CT.

Anne WilsonMonday, August 6

Anne Wilson is a Chicago-based visual artist who creates sculpture, drawings, performances and video animations that explore themes of time, loss, private and social rituals. Wilson is the recipient of grants from the Driehaus Foundation, Artadia, the Tiffany Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Wilson's work is represented by Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago and Paul Kotula Projects, Detroit. She is a Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Generous support for the lecture series provided by the Quimby Family Foundation.

Posted: 2012-05-23

Maine College of Art will celebrate the completion of the Woodworking & Furniture Design studio facilities in the Porteous Building on Thursday, June 7 at 5:30pm on the third floor. We will acknowledge the donors who made the renovations possible. Light refreshments will be served at 5:30pm with remarks by President Don Tuski and Associate Professor Matt Hutton at 6pm.

This summer, the College is hosting the Furniture Society conference, dynamic range of intensives, lectures, demonstrations, presentations, and exhibitions. Join Matt Hutton and Assistant Professor Adam Manley on Saturday, June 9 from 10am to noon to tour the exhibits. Participants should join in the MECA lobby for coffee and donuts before departing together.